Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: The Weiss Resolution

Sunday, April 13, 2008

The Weiss Resolution

City Council Member Jack Weiss recently wrote an opinion piece which appeared in both the Whatcom Indy and the Bellingham Herald. (Click here and here to read these articles which are essentially the same.) His editorial piece was taken from a memo attached to a resolution (AB17904 Resolution Supporting and Enhancing the Implementation of Bellingham's Comprehensive Plan Infill Strategy) to be discussed in the Planning and Community Development Committee of the city council on 14 April. Click here to read the resolution and memo. I can agree with much of Jack Weiss’ memo having to do with increased infill and avoidance of urban sprawl, laudable goals each. However, the memo does not touch on the decades of neglect wherein infill has been achieved mainly by ignoring codes and allowing an unregulated, uncontrolled and unlicensed rental market to call the shots.

Jack Weiss states, “Infill density allows us to better plan transportation to move people instead of cars.” My questions are: Why are you not speaking to the effect of the unplanned and unregulated infill which has been the norm to date? – and - Who did any planning at all for the cars and transportation issues surrounding this covert kind of infill? - and – What will the city do to reverse the effects of this infill? – and – Will the rules and regulations set up to control infill in the future be obeyed any more than the present laws? Mr. Weiss’s call in his resolution, that all this “of course, must be done in a fair and equitable manner”, will fall on deaf ears as fairness and equity on the part of the city seem to have been in short supply so far in neighborhoods plagued with illegal rooming houses where the efforts to enforce our codes are for naught.

Moreover, what will be the guarantees to the neighborhoods and who the guarantors? I have said before in this blog that by their previous neglect the council and the city executives have already lost the trust of those who have had to endure this covertly created increased density and its detrimental effects.

“New housing types, including cottage and carriage housing, townhouses, and detached accessory dwelling units, will be considered in this effort.” Our modern day Pandoras should think twice and carefully about opening the box containing these ideas. Townhouses tend to fall prey to investors who will rent them for all the market can bear. Cottages are beguiling because of the image they can conjure in the mind. Carriage housing beckons with images of fantasy tranquil estate living while accessory dwelling units will tempt the homeowner with visions of dollars.

All of these ideas have some legitimacy but as with uncontrolled and illegal rooming houses, who will police these creations? Our one code enforcement officer?

Furthermore, I hear no call from Mr. Weiss to demand substantive participation from Western Washington University. This institution seems to have boundless energy and funding to find a place at the waterfront but does little to assist, beyond token gestures, in easing the effect of thousands of students each year on rental housing at which time they gobble up single family residences, turning them into rooming houses, distorting the rental market and limiting the choices of those families who cannot afford to purchase a home.

Mr. Weiss ends his piece by saying “It is how we manage change and what values we prioritize. That is our challenge.” I would go one better - What do we do to reverse the effects of the unmanaged change and non-enforcement of code to date?

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The Rationale for Rental Licensing

There is the definitive experience of cities that have already adopted rental licensing and inspections in the face of exactly the same opposition as we saw in Bellingham over the last decade. Ultimately, each of these cities was proven correct in its resolve to move ahead to protect the safety and health of the renters. We already know that the city of Pasco, WA found that 15% of the units inspected under their program had serious life/safety issues. 10% had mold problems. A full 85% had problems of varying degrees. The city of Gresham, OR performed over 1600 inspections in 2009 and issued, as a result, over 4,000 citations. Lexington, KY performed inspections of units near the University of Kentucky and found that 50% had life/safety issues. Sacramento, CA began an inspection program during which one third of the units inspected had serious safety and health issues. The question why does anyone believe that the condition of rental housing here in Bellingham does not mirror that which is found in cities that have the statistics to show that time and time again the condition of rentals in our cities is problematic? All we have had to date from those who oppose licensing are broad statements by the landlords and their paladins that are completely and utterly unsubstantiated. The Zonemaven has searched in vain for the horror stories that these opponents of licensing and inspections have predicted. On the other hand, The Zonemaven did find over 100 cities that have licensing AND inspections without the catastrophic effect for the rental markets that the landlords would have you believe. (See this blog's sidebar at bottom left for list)

One Reason Illegal Rooming Houses Do Not Work

The limit for unrelated persons at a single family home rental is three residents. Leases are signed by three people who then invite additional renters to join them to lower per capita rental rates. The perverse effect is that rental rates tend to rise under these circumstances making it difficult for single families to rent single family homes. Some local rental agencies facilitate this practice.

"To say that a family is so equivalent to a ragtag collection of college roommates as to require identical treatment in zoning decisions defies the reality of the place of the family in American society, despite any changes that institution has undergone in recent years. Only the most cynical among us would say that the American family has devolved to the point of no greater importance or consideration in governmental decision making than a group of college roommates." (Stegeman v. City of Ann Arbor)

That being said, accommodation ought to be made for protected classes, especially non-traditional unions and group houses for the disabled. These classes are laid out in federal and Washington State law.